OTTAWA and TORONTO – Wait just a minute: we didn’t mean that the whole licence renewal hearing should be postponed.
That was the message from the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) and the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) after learning that the CRTC decided to push back the CBC’s licence renewal process from September to June, 2012. While acknowledging that they both supported a request from the Quebec English-language Production Committee (QEPC) for more detailed financial data from the CBC, the two organizations were quick to issue statements expressing their collective disappointment with the Commission’s decision to delay the hearing.
“While we supported QEPC’s request for more data regarding the CBC’s use of independent productions, we certainly didn’t request or support a delay in the hearing,” said CMPA president and CEO Norm Bolen, in a statement. “More to the point, CBC doesn’t need the delay. It has the resources to compile and provide the requested data within the original timeframe. We’ve seen it turn around data requests in our Terms of Trade negotiations in a matter of hours.”
DOC said that it “never imagined that the request would lead to such a delay”, and noted that it asked the CRTC to pass on the request to the CBC/SRC as quickly as possible in order to meet the previously announced July 18 deadline.
“This is a most untimely decision by the CRTC, one that we find perplexing and damaging to the documentary community which is currently struggling to meet market changes”, said DOC chair John Christou.
For its part, CBC/Radio-Canada made it clear that it, too, did not request a delay.
“We were formally advised about the delay (on Friday)”, said president and CEO said Hubert T. Lacroix, in a statement. “Nonetheless, we look forward to the opportunity to make our case for the future of CBC/Radio-Canada next year. This delay allows us to continue rolling out our five-year plan, ‘Everyone, Every way’, and will let the Commission and Canadians see for themselves the improvements we have in store for the public broadcaster.”
The CRTC said Monday that while the public hearing for the hearing is now suspended, all interventions filed to date as well as new interventions filed before the July 18th deadline will form part of the record and therefore considered at the June 2012 hearing. It will announce a new date for the hearing and new deadlines for the filing of interventions and replies on February 1, 2012.
– Lesley Hunter
